The new album by Hate Moss is called A Hot Mess, a couple who continue to escape any label, transforming contamination into a stylistic signature. It came out for
the historic Bolognese label Trovarobato and produced in collaboration with Pour Atom Oil. It is a sonic journey that crosses different genres, from trip hop to electroclash, with world and industrial influences, and was written, recorded and mixed by the group itself, which was thus able to maintain full creative control in every phase of its production process. Born during a long tour that touched South America, Europe, the United Kingdom and part of the Middle East, the album reflects the experiences lived by Ian Carvalho and Tina Galassi in the alternative cultural scene, the result of a musical dimension rooted in self-managed social centers and DIY culture. The lyrics address high-impact social issues, exploring a linguistic plurality that embraces Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian and even a piece in dialect
Tuscan. Among the recurring themes emerge the precariousness of the new generations, deaths at work, social inequalities and a politics crushed by the interests of the market. Through a fusion of organic percussion, electronics and intense voices, enriched by the contribution of friends and fellow musicians, Hate Moss give life to a record that is not limited to denunciation, but invites the listener to reflect and believe in possible change.
Tina and Ian let's start from the story of A Hot Mess or total disaster: how it was born and the choice of the title which is onomatopoeic with your stage name. Do you know that in Italy it can be interpreted in a more literal way?
More than onomatopoeic, it is the anagram of our name, which was chosen well before writing the album. A Hot Mess is a project album and the title influenced the writing. We work in English to describe a particular situation in general and we decline it in the contents.
Does exploring and practicing so many idioms in the era of walls and the return of sovereignism make you feel like white flies or are you, together with many other artists, the new Resistance?
Let's hope for new resistance, the further we go the more we understand the fact that it is possible not to write only in the language of origin. In the last two years traveling among other situations we met a Portuguese band singing in Portuguese in England.
Can you tell me about the symbolism of the cover created by the artist Vhro alias Sara Vaccaro? What does the soul of A Hot Mess represent?
The cover was born from the desire to take up many concepts, many suggestions, we collected magazines, newspapers, brochures of Jehovah's Witnesses but also biblical images, Japanese anime and manga, all with a spirit that recalled a last judgement; we also used artificial intelligence to do this work, we chewed everything until we found what was nonsense at first glance but layered. Then it was redone in acrylic, in the dimensions of 60 by 60, and if you look closely you can see the brushstrokes.
In the song A Hot Mess you say “I can't stop I can't rest Time is not a friend I'm a mess”: these are words that convey restlessness, which testify to an internal disorder. Is it the portrait of a lost humanity? Even if you then say that there is something to say and try?
The song comes from the idea of losing a person, whether it's a relationship or whether it's about losing a bond: daily life continues and in moments of calm you think you can't relax. The frenzy of today doesn't make you reflect on the things that happen: time doesn't make you experience either mourning or celebration.
Who is Bianca whose dreams have been stolen since she was a child and who had to think about working? It's a song with a tragic inspiration.
This girl summarizes the stories we read in the newspapers, talks about deaths at work. He talks about white deaths that are built on his character. His dreams fade.
Ignorance is a blind dog in Mentiras: the song seems like a dystopian, almost Orwellian story. Is that so? Is it all so dramatically real?
Our days are proof of this, we were inspired by South American Punk, we toured Chile, Argentia and Uruguay, all areas that are influenced by North America which has made them blind. The idea is that community sharing helps those who can't rest because the work isn't right and the society that wants us to be ignorant and poorly trained. We are influenced by fighting capitalism that alienates us.
In Amor Sincreto you mention the orishas who are the spirits and deities of the Yoruba religion who should protect the world: what is your relationship with Faith?
With music we fill the spiritual lack and religious references are syncretisms. There is a lot of symbolism, symbols and images serve us to create an imaginary.
In the season of social media and dating apps, what is Amor Sincreto, a secret love?
The concept is based on the real meaning of syncretic and not on its translation. We've always found that situation a bit embarrassing and dystopian. Better to go to the bar and meet people by talking. It's the evolution of social media.
Seven, despite its almost nursery rhyme-like rhymes, is a very political second song: what is the mystery that when revealed makes you choose the lampredotto?
It is realizing that you have been manipulated. Seven also stands for sect, it is the development of a character who goes from working for a sect to becoming a butcher and this character between "dream and suet" understands that lampredotto is better than caviar in the sense that a commoner life is better than a bourgeois one in which you feel bad inside.
I take inspiration from Just Another Dream to ask you who is a dreamer in 2026?
We are, we are at the point where dystopias have taken over, anyone who manages to do things for the community, even the small neighborhood one, to give part of his life for the common good is a dreamer. But there is also the selfishness of the dreamer who seeks his fulfillment in dreams.
Finally, what will happen in the next few weeks of your artistic life?
Now we are in Japan, then we will take a few days off to rest, then we will go to Portugal, then Italy again after which we fly back to South America from November until the end of January.
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